Rewilding: Letting Nature Lead the Way
You can start small, by tucking native plants into your formal garden, or go bold and remove some or even all of your lawn. Rewilding, the practice of returning land to its natural state, helps restore ecosystems and provides a lifeline for wildlife. It’s all about balance: adding native plants and removing invasive ones work together to create a thriving, sustainable environment.
The best part? It's not just good for nature, it’s good for you too. Think lower maintenance, less watering, and the joy of seeing birds, butterflies, and other pollinators transform your yard into a lively, beautiful haven. Click here for resources on getting started, keeping things thriving, and finding the support you need along the way.
“Discover the beauty of letting nature thrive–rewild your space today."
Rewilding Resources
Doug Tallamy's Homegrown National Park website added a new set of Get Started guides in 2025. https://homegrownnationalpark.org/get-started-planting-native/
Jane Sorenson also has a comprehensive guide for creating a pollinator habitat from start to finish at https://www.northeastpollinator.com/pages/planting-for-pollinators. She categorizes native pollinators into two groups, so you can see who's a spreader, and who is a more well-behaved garden plant, so you can choose your style while going wild. She charts bloom time in color to help you plan for season-long blooms.
Annie White wrote another thorough guide: https://pollinatorgardens.org/2016/01/12/design-ideas-for-gardeners/
Alicia Houk, of awildgarden.com, has taught excellent classes through Osher, in Thetford, and at other venues; many HGC members have already taken them. She covers the science behind habitat loss and pollinator decline, as well as how to restore habitat and contribute to a rebalanced future. With her permission, here is a link to her Native Garden summary.
David Hammond of creatinghabitats.org has created many wildflower gardens from seed in the Upper Valley and beyond. (You can see where they are at his website.) He often works with towns and institutions who can provide labor and easy maintenance, and he provides the seeds and the support, for no charge; he has said that if the client prefers native seeds only, he is happy to provide that. If you have a space in your town, and are interested, we can help connect you.
Winter Sowing is an easy and economical method for propagating native and other hardy perennials from seed. The HGC plant team has had a workshop on this method, and hope to have one every winter. Our members have found good information about winter sowing at growitbuildit.com/illustrated-guide-to-winter-sowing-with-pictures. If you are on Facebook, www.facebook.com/groups/wintersown/learning_content is a group dedicated to Trudi Davidoff's methods (she coined the phrase and popularized the technique). Their "guides" section has illustrated steps, FAQs, and videos. If you like podcasts, try podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/293-winter-sowing-native-seeds-encore-presentation/
Planting in Difficult Sites
The Wild Seed Project, which also has a link on the Plant Natives page, writes about growing natives in the usually inhospitable "hell strip" between the sidewalk and road, or in road medians: https://wildseedproject.net/blog/hellstrip-plantings-creating-habitat-in-the-space-between-the-sidewalk-and-the-curb
Another post focuses on shade plants: https://wildseedproject.net/blog/in-the-shade-gardening-with-native-plants-from-the-woodland-understory